This invention relates generally to sensing conditions in a formation outside a well. It relates more particularly to sensing, such as with optical fiber technology, one or more formation parameters at least during a fracturing, acidizing, or conformance treatment.
Service companies in the oil and gas industry strive to improve the services they provide in drilling, completing, and producing oil and gas wells. Fracturing, acidizing, and conformance treatments are three well-known types of services performed by these companies, and each of these entails the designing, producing, and using of specialized fluids. It would be helpful in obtaining, maintaining, and monitoring these to know downhole conditions as these fluids are being placed in wells and out into formations communicating with the wells. Thus, there is a need for sensing these conditions and obtaining data representing these conditions from down in the formations at least as the fluids are being placed (that is, in real time with the treatment processes); however, post-treatment or continuing sensing is also desirable (such as for trying to determine when a formation might plug due to scale build-up, for example). Such need might include or lead to, for example, monitoring pressure and other parameters inside a fracture, monitoring fracture propagation into water-bearing formations, determining the fracture opening and closing pressures, and making real-time changes in treatment methods to increase well productivity.